Air Power Products Case Study
Air Power Products is a leading supplier of air compressors, spray equipment and pneumatic tools. Established in 1990, Air Power Products has built a reputation as a first class supplier of compressed air related products.
Company name: Air Power Products
Company site: http://www.airpowerproducts.co.uk
Product: Sage 200
Date: 05/04/10
Region: Sheffield
No Of Seats: 8
Situation
Air Power Products, as the name suggests, is a specialist company. “That’s right,’ confirms Robert Polley the company’s director. ‘We essentially deal with anything air powered; from great big compressors right down to little screwdrivers.” Based in Dinnington, near Sheffield, Airpower has a range of clients across all industry sectors. ‘Basically,’ explains Rob, ‘we hire or sell the tools needed by clients, all the way to delivering to their site.
We also repair and service the tools, be they rock-busters, clay diggers, sprayers, drills or any of the other wide variety of air tools industry uses.” Clearly it’s a business that relies on immaculate logistics of delivery on time, every time, plus careful monitoring of the equipment to ensure items are always in a ‘ready to use’ state. The very nature of the equipment means it takes a lot of wear and tear and keeping up to date on parts and spares is vital. To make it more complicated, Airpower also produce their own product made from supplied parts.
Robert explains, the company is about seventeen years old and Sage 200 has been in use in the company for the last eight months. So why Sage 200? ‘Well before 200 we had Line100,’ Robert tells us. ‘I didn’t like it to be honest, it wasn’t right for what we wanted. I wanted stock location simplified and I particularly wanted to use a stock identification system that made more sense to the users and speeded up the work. Instead of a part being called by a twenty- figure number, which is hard to remember and gives no clue as to what it is, I wanted a naming system such as ‘Pump001’, ‘Pump002’. Line100 unfortunately couldn’t do that.”
Solution
“What made us make the change was a problem we had,” Robert says. “Basically about two years some racking fell over, collapsed really, and all the bits and pieces on the racks got all jumbled up. We never managed to properly sort out the mess; it was all over the place. The staff weren’t really up to the job of sorting it out either.” However a move was to make the difference. Robert agrees, “Moving premises was a good time for us to move software. With everything changing, the time was right.’ Also well timed was a phone call from DMC as part of their regular check up on past and potential clients. “They called us about something else actually, but it was well –timed so we asked them to pop in and see us and advise us on our options.”
One option Robert wasn’t keen on was paying for features he didn’t, and wouldn’t need. “This is where other potential suppliers let themselves down,” he points out. “People had come in and shown us, no doubt fabulous, systems but all at very high prices and delivering features over and above our needs. To buy one of those would have been a waste of time and money with no return on our investment.” “Don’t get me wrong, though,” he adds. “We didn’t want something cheap and cheerful. It had to do the job but not be over the top. There’s no point in paying for something you know you’re never going to use.” DMC understood the brief and came up with the answer. “DMC did their homework, they consulted with us and put our needs first,” Robert says. “Sage 200 was their recommendation and it has been just what we wanted.”
Benefits
Robert found DMC’s service exemplary; the installation was smooth and trouble- free. “DMC have been very good at giving is advice and help, whether on the ‘phone or by coming in personally.” Rob says. “The new system has been just what we wanted; the it’s much more user friendly and people get to find what they want so much easier.” Overall, Airpower are very glad they found DMC.
